Bah Humbug
by Sarcastic-Bones
Summary: Becker isn't exactly the most festive person. Add that to his workaholic nature, and it's no surprise Jess takes it on herself to bring Christmas to him, by one sunday morning invading his flat to help him decorate. Jecker romance/fluff.


**I know it's now four/five days _after_ Christmas, but I'm hoping you're all still maybe in the Christmas mood? If not, I'm hoping you're in the Jecker mood? (Of course you are, it's JECKER!)**

**Anyway, my best friend (SabreDae) and I had a Primeval Marathon last week, and I've been meaning to get this up ever since then. I rather like it, to be honest, so I hope you do too. Anyone who has read my 'Siblings' has met Melissa, Becker sister, before, but she's portrayed slightly nicer in this, and lives near Becker.**

**I hope you like this! Thank you.**

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><p>Becker didn't normally sleep past nine o'clock, any morning, even on a Sunday.<p>

He was a morning person, and he liked to enjoy his day. The _whole _day.

So when a loud, tapping knock on his front door roused him from bed at nine thirty one Saturday morning, he wasn't so much as angry at the knocker but curious as to who it was.

_Who was up before him?_

All of his friends were _not_ morning people, even most of the soldiers he knew only got up early when they had to. His family liked to joke that they would have thought he was adopted if it weren't for his father's also unusual morning cheer. Although it wasn't _that _early, Becker couldn't think of anybody who would be out their door and ready to start their day at nine thirty on a weekend.

Hauling himself out of bed, only a pair of plaid pyjama trousers keeping him warm, he stumbled to the door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and running his fingers through his hair.

As he passed the kitchen the tapping was repeated - rather polite for a knock, but still firm.

_Someone definitely wanted his attention._

He didn't bother checking through the peep hole to see who it was - he'd soon find out by opening the door.

Wrenching it open, the last hints of grogginess from sleep turned to perplexity and surprise as he took in the girl before him.

Jess had _somehow_ found a pistachio green pencil shirt, fishtailing slightly at the bottom, matched it with a pale yellow blouse and bright purple heels, and topped the whole look off with a cardboard box and a medium sized Christmas tree, which she was trying to balance in her hands.

"Jess?" Becker asked, confused, blinking slightly to wake himself up.

"Good morning, Becker," She greeted him cheerfully, unperturbed, stepping over the threshold as he stared, holding the door open for her, yet managing to step to the side to allow her to pass him and enter the apartment nonetheless.

She teetered the ten steps or so past the kitchen and into the adjoining living room, placed the cardboard box on the coffee table, and then leant the Christmas tree on the wall by Becker's TV.

"Er, 'Morning," Becker tried, eyebrows creasing in sheer amazement. "Did we… did we arrange something?" He asked hesitantly.

_Had he forgotten about some plans they'd made?_

Jess elegantly walked back towards him and into the kitchen, setting the kettle up to boil and searching his cupboards for the necessary ingredients to make coffee.

"_I_ arranged something," She told him, not clearing up the situation for him in the slightest. "For your own good, Becker."

He hesitated, trying to make sense of her words, then gave up, running a palm wearily down his face. "Jess, it's too early for this."

"It's half nine, Becker," She pointed out smoothly, pouring boiling water into two mugs and turning to face him.

"And I was still asleep," He replied.

"So I see," She gave his bare chest and messy hair a pointed look. His mouth tensed in slight unease at her staring at his chest.

_He felt awkward. Was it awkward? Or was it just him?_

_Yep, just you, Becker. You and your stupid crush on her._

"So… what are you doing here?" He asked carefully, the smell of the coffee finally putting his brain into working gear.

"Christmas," She told him simply, finishing the coffees and pushing one mug into his hands as she glided past him again and made her way back into his living room, sitting on the sofa and pulling the cardboard box towards herself.

He followed her, sipping the coffee, still confused.

"Christmas?" He asked.

"Christmas," She repeated happily, completely unfazed by his cluelessness. "What day is it, Becker?"

He knew just from one look at her expression that this was a trick question.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what the trick was.

"Er… Saturday?"

"Sunday," She corrected him. "And the date?"

"Er…" He gave her a defeated look.

"Sunday the 24th of December, to be exact," She clarified for him.

"Oh."

"Yes, oh," She replied, giving him an amused mock-disapproving look. "It's Christmas Eve, Becker, and _you_ still don't even have a tree up."

"I was… getting to it, Jessica," He tried to convince her, taking a seat beside her on the sofa, unconsciously sitting a lot closer than he meant to.

"No you weren't," She called his bluff, outwardly ignoring his proximity (because he hadn't moved - he hadn't wanted to), but inwardly having a minor panic attack.

_Becker is sitting __**right**__ beside you, Jess. Right beside you. With a bare chest. Don't panic. Don't do anything stupid._

"If I hadn't come here today you would have gone into work tomorrow thinking it was just another ordinary day, Becker. Am I right?"

"You're always right, Jessica," He teased, finally waking up.

"Of course I am," She grinned back cheekily. "But that's besides the point. You are the very definition of a workaholic, and _I_ am going to be your princess in a shining tiara today."

He raised his eyebrows sceptically, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and took another sip of the coffee she'd made him.

_How… domestic, Becker._

"Now," She grinned back, flicking his TV on and to the music channel. Wizzard blasted out of the speakers, cheerful and optimistic. "You need to get dressed, because _we_ are going to decorate your tree."

He groaned.

"I knew I shouldn't have answered the door," He joked dryly.

She shot him a mock glare, trying her best not to smile and carefully diverting her eyes from his chest in case she got distracted - as she almost had when he'd answered the door. "Just go, Becker."

Chuckling, he hauled himself up from the sofa and made his way into his bedroom, shooting her a smirk over his shoulder. "Has anyone ever told you that you're bossy?"

"Yes, you actually - and it's my job to be bossy."

Becker shrugged.

_He had to give her that one._

* * *

><p>When he'd taken a quick shower and gotten dressed into jeans and a casual shirt and re-emerged into the living room, it had been taken over.<p>

"I miss my old living room already, Jessica," He sighed as he entered the room.

She'd already put up decorations - tinsel, miniature Christmas trees, dancing Santa's, and more - round his TV, and across the curtain rails and lights. Silver tinsel was strewn across the floor in a haphazard manner so that he could barely make it over to where she sat in the corner directly in view of the front door, untangling lights for the Christmas tree.

Baubles hidden amongst the tinsel almost took him out a couple of times as he tried to traverse his living room.

"This is more dangerous than military expeditions to the tropics, Jess," He teased again.

"Oh shush," She smirked, finally untangling the last of the lights. "It's not that bad, Becker. I promise you, your living room will be full of safe festive cheer when I'm done."

"That's what I'm worried about."

He earned himself a playful smirk and a raise of her eyebrows.

"I see you own more than just black, then," She changed the conversation, nodding once towards his outfit of choice. His top was light blue.

He laughed. "I guess this is what I really look like, Jess."

"I like it," She blurted out, her face turning deep red as soon as the words had left her mouth. Becker had to try not to smile at her adorable embarrassed demeanour. "I mean, of course I do, it's you… not that I _always_ like what you wear- not that I look, apart from having to when I see you because I can't really… I _have_ to see when I see you at work… even though you always wear the same thing at work- not that that's a _bad_ thing, because it looks nice on you. Well, not _nice_, soldier-y really… if that's a-"

"Jessica," He finally interrupted her, his lips curving into a half smile as he _tried_ (he really did) not to laugh at her. She thought she was humiliating herself, he just found it more endearing.

"Yeah?" She looked relieved, her eyes wide and innocent.

"Should I set up the tree?"

She blinked once. "Oh… er, yes. Yes, of course."

He smirked at her one last time as he began setting the small Christmas tree up in the corner of the room. Jess arranged the tinsel and baubles behind him as he did so. They worked in relative silence for a couple of minutes - apart from the festive songs coming from the TV - then she started to sing along to 'Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!'.

Becker smiled, his face hidden from her.

It _was _domestic, what they were doing. Something he never thought he'd have.

Not that they were even _together_, as such. They weren't dating other people, and they hung out a lot, had lunch together almost every day, had casual dinners most nights, spent evenings at his or hers (usually with Abby and Connor, but still). They weren't technically in a relationship, in the sense that it was still platonic, but… they were in a relationship. It was obvious. They just hadn't _said _anything about it yet, about liking each other, and neither of them had made a move.

Not that Jess would make a move. She was old fashioned, traditional, like that. And she wasn't that type of girl. He wouldn't have it any other way. It was his responsibility to make the move (unless he chickened out for so long that she _had_ to do something), he just hadn't found the perfect opportunity yet…

_Sure, keep telling yourself that, Becker._

'Wonderful Christmas Time' came on the music channel at that moment, and Jess began singing along, ever the cheerful optimist. Becker stopped decorating the tree and stared past it at her as she moved about his living room, still in her heels, gathering decorations.

_Hopefully,_ he thought,_ next year she'll be in her pyjamas._

"Ready with those decorations?" He asked, mostly to bring himself back to reality because, in a years time, he really did want her living with him and enjoying Christmas together.

She turned to him and smiled, taking the few steps over to him with a few strips of tinsel held out in her hands. "Want me to teach you how to decorate it?" She asked.

He rolled his eyes at that - he couldn't help it.

"Everything doesn't have to be carefully perfect, Jessica," He told her, gently taking two short pieces of tinsel from her hands as he stepped out of the corner and round the tree to stand beside her, a few feet away from it. "I think maybe _I_ should teach _you_ the art of fun tree decorating."

A slow smile spread across her face, and she made a polite '_after you' _gesture.

"By all means," She smiled. "I'm ready to be impressed."

After giving her a teasing grin, he turned to the tree and haphazardly threw the tinsel at random branches.

She laughed. "Seriously?" He simply smiled and gestured for her to take her turn. "Okay… but if this goes horribly wrong…"

"It's _tinsel_ throwing, Jessica," Becker pointed out, highly amused. "It's not like you're putting a creature back through an anomaly."

She blushed a little, but rolled her eyes and smiled, before throwing the long piece of silver tinsel in her right hand at the tree.

It caught the branches slightly, held for a moment, then tussled to the floor. She frowned.

Becker chuckled.

"Here," He grinned, taking up a stand behind her, gently placing his hand over her right one round the tinsel, completely aware that they should be in a cheesy rom-com at that moment. "Actually _throw_ it, Jess. It's got to stay on the tree, you know…" He teased.

She huffed good-naturedly. "I know _that_, Becker."

"I'm just trying to help," He said, the amusement still evident in his voice. As he spoke his breath brushed against the back of her neck.

She tried the throw again, this time with Becker guiding her arm so that she put her weight behind the throw, and the force was enough for the tinsel to remain clinging to the branches.

"Yes!" She celebrated happily.

The breath from Becker's chuckle ghosted down the bare skin at her neck again and she had to stop herself from shivering and remind herself to breath.

After a longer pause than necessary, he remained standing close to her, unwilling to move away.

Just as she was becoming painfully aware that she should do _something_ - anything - in response, there was a knock at the door.

This one was more demanding and insistent, and Becker stepped away immediately to answer it. Jess took their cups to the sink in the kitchen, so they ended up awkwardly walking together to the door, before Jess turned left and made her way to the indent in the kitchen from which you could not been seen by anyone at the door, to give Becker some privacy in his conversation.

They shared a smile just as Becker wrenched the door open, and then his attention was diverted.

His eyebrows creased in confusion at the person on the other side of the door for the second time that morning. "Melissa?"

"Hilary!" His sister exclaimed happily, engulfing him in a hug before he could respond. "I've missed you."

"You too, Mel," He replied carefully as she stepped away and he allowed her in to the apartment. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you have a couple of spare trays. Mum doesn't have enough for all the tonnes of food she's planned on cooking tomorrow, and you live closer to her than Tami does."

"Oh right," He nodded. "Of course. I'll take a look."

As he turned towards the kitchen, where Jess was quietly and politely washing the coffee mugs, having disregarded her heels, Becker's sister caught sight of his living room.

"What on earth happened to your apartment, Hils?" She laughed. "It looks like Santa threw up in there."

He let out a short laugh, sure that Jess was giving him a silent glare for it, but amused none the less. As he knelt down to open a low cupboard, he scratched the slight stubble on his chin and glanced up at Melissa, "Yeah, er… we got a bit carried away."

Melissa looked as if she was going to ask him a question, until she turned away from the apartment and caught sight of Jess.

"Oh," She muttered simply for a moment, surprise rendering her frozen - she wasn't aware her brother was in a relationship, or anything like it - then shook it off. "Sorry, I'm Melissa."

"Jess," Jess replied in kind, smiling friendly. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Melissa shook her hand, leaning across the kneeling Becker in the tight kitchen space. "Hilary's never been any good at introductions. He's usually too cranky for social situations."

Jess laughed and Becker scowled as he stood up, trays in hand.

"Don't worry," Jess addressed his sister again. "I'm used to him by now."

"Hey!" Becker complained, aware that they were sounding so much like a teasing couple.

Melissa took the trays from him. "So, do you-er, how do you know … are you…"

"Oh," Jess understood her meaning straight away. "I work with Becker."

"Becker?" Melissa raised an eyebrow in a move eerily characteristic of her brother. Her lips twitched in amusement at the nickname.

"Nobody calls me _'Hilary'_," He told his sister pointedly, grimacing as the name came out of his mouth. "It's terrible."

Melissa's response was half sincere, half teasing. "It's a lovely name, Hils."

"It's a _girls_ name," Becker retorted calmly.

"He works with guns," Jess told Melissa fairly, then repeated Becker's point for emphasis. "Nobody calls him '_Hilary'_."

"Not even you?" Melissa asked, actually rather surprised at the knowledge. Girls name or not, she'd always called her brother Hilary - it _was_ his name, after all.

Jess and Becker exchanged a quick glance as she finished towelling dry the mugs and placed them back in the cupboard. "I do sometimes…" She told Melissa. "But only if I'm blackmailing him, and only because I'm one of a few people who actually know his name."

"What makes you think she would?" Becker asked pointedly. He knew his sister had assumed they were dating as soon as she'd caught sight of her in his kitchen (not a huge leap, to be fair), with that comment she just _had _to be hinting at that, and he wanted to call her out on it.

Unfortunately, Melissa Becker was older than her brother, and she knew how to win this game.

"All your other girlfriends never called you by your last name."

Jess's face went bright red immediately. Becker tensed, then gave his sister a warning glare.

"Jess isn't my girlfriend," He managed to keep his tone perfectly neutral. "We're just friends. She's helping me set up my Christmas tree."

That distracted Melissa. "You haven't put your decorations up yet, Hils?" She looked aghast. "It's Christmas Eve!"

"Exactly what I've been telling him!" Jess exclaimed, and the two women shared a disbelieving look.

Becker rolled his eyes. "Okay, _before_ you two start _bonding_," He hurried to say, beginning to shepherd his sister towards the door, "I think it's time to leave, Melissa. I'll see you tomorrow for dinner."

Melissa gave him a pointed smirk, then graciously accepted the exit. "See you tomorrow, Hils. Nice meeting you, Jess!" She called over her shoulder.

"You too," Jess called back, leaning up on her tiptoes and over Becker's shoulder as he closed the door.

"Hope to see you at Christmas next year!" Melissa managed to say before the door shut, to Becker's horror.

When it was shut, he leaned against it for a moment, eyes closed. He sighed wearily.

"God, my family know how to be annoying."

Jess laughed, and the sound caused him to open his eyes and stare at her. She was leaning against the counter to his right, one leg bent slightly to rest on the low cupboard door. She looked perfectly at home.

"She was nothing of the sort, Becker," Jess protested, amused. "She was perfectly nice."

"If you say so…"

"Come on," Jess sighed. "Let's finish decorating. Then we can watch It's A Wonderful Life!"

The excitement in her voice was hard to miss.

"Is that why you made all this effort, Jessica?" He asked as he followed her back into the living room. "To finally persuade me to watch that film?"

"I still cannot believe you haven't seen it, Becker!" She complained animatedly. "It's a _crime_!"

He rolled his eyes. "_Murder_ is a crime, Jess."

"And while I appreciate that you won't be getting two to three years jail time," She continued, "I still think you _have_ to watch it."

He picked up some of the baubles from the neat pile she'd got round to making on the floor as she made her way over to the cardboard box, now mostly empty of decorations, and pulled out the film.

"There's no dissuading you, is there?" Becker sighed at the sight of the DVD.

"None whatsoever," She nodded. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the tree, so she took this as victory and went to put the film on.

By the time the opening credits had finished, Becker and Jess had effectively given up decorating and sat curled up on his sofa.

About halfway through, Jess got up to make some popcorn. Stepping round the coffee table, she lost her footing and tripped over a couple of baubles on the floor. Becker, always alert, darted forward from his position leaning on one of the armrests of the sofa to catch her.

Because he'd stood up, she was wrapped in his arms, pulled against his chest, cheek to cheek with him. Closer than they'd ever been.

If his head had been a quarter of an inch to the left, they'd have kissed by accident.

"Th… thank you," She stammered out, wide eyed and heart beating frantically.

He put her back on her feet and pulled his hands away from her body, carefully keeping his distance as he leaned back into the sofa.

When she came back, she sat a bit further away, no longer in reach of his arms. Becker knew what she was doing straight away.

He also knew that if he didn't do something, say something about the awkwardness, she'd be sitting on the other end of the sofa until the end of the film. And things would be awkward.

It had been like they'd taken one step forward today, but this would be two steps back.

He'd scared her off a little with the contact.

That was the last thing he'd wanted to do.

When George Bailey realised that his 'wife' didn't know who he was, and that his home and children didn't 'exist', Becker's attention was drawn over to Jess, who was trying not to cry.

He allowed himself a small smile at her sensitivity - it was one of the things he loved about her - then squashed it down and shuffled over to place a hand on her upper arm.

Jess snapped her head round at the contact so fast he knew she'd been absorbed in the movie.

"Jess?" He asked gently. "Are you crying?"

"No." Becker raised his eyebrows. She wiped tears from her eyes. "Okay, maybe a little. It's a sad film!"

He smiled. "You don't have to defend yourself, Jess," He told her. "But haven't you seen this film a million times?"

"We watch it every Christmas at home," She told him.

"But you still cry at it?" He asked, incredulous. He didn't really cry at films, and the rare times he did (and hid it well) he never cried if he saw it a second time.

"My dad teases me about it every year," She smiled at him as she divulged the information, wrapping her legs under her body. "But… can you imagine if you got to see what it would be like if you'd never existed?"

Becker thought about it for a moment, because he knew she was being serious. "I'd imagine… professionally, the ARC would replace me easily-"

Jess scoffed. "And personally?"

"My family would probably… be the same. I mean, it's not like I saved my brother's life or anything."

His reference back to the film caused her to glance over at the screen for a moment, where it had just began snowing again, and George was back to his old life.

"What about you?"

Becker pulled his legs up onto the sofa, and they sat face to face now, leaning one arm each against the back of it.

Jess bit her lip. "The ARC would have Connor… but I guess my parents would be childless, so their lives would definitely have been different."

"They must be glad to have had you," Becker said. "You changed their life."

Jess smiled. "I guess so. What about you?"

Becker thought about his earlier comment. He frowned, suddenly in a bit of a depressive mood. "I saved some of my men's lives when I was serving in Afghanistan, and I've saved civilians from creatures, but… any other soldier could have done that… I guess I wouldn't really be missed."

"I'd miss you," She blurted out, before she could stop herself.

They were the only two in the room, there was no hiding that comment. She wasn't going to take it back, because… well, what would she say? _'Actually, no, I wouldn't miss you'._ That would be harsh.

No, she wouldn't do that. She'd blurted it out, but it was the truth. She was hopelessly in love with him, why deny that he'd impacted her life?

He'd made her more accepting of herself - when she'd first started working at the ARC, she'd been inwardly insecure of her bold personality, and her youth. Her cheerfulness was a bit of a shock to a lot of people, and it caused her to come out of conversations feeling like an optimistic idiot sometimes, especially conversations with serious officials who viewed it as foolish naivety.

"And so would Abby, Connor, and Danny - you saved their lives the first time you went through a future anomaly, and Abby's brother's life too."

Becker shrugged. "I suppose…"

Jess rolled her eyes. "You're so willing to believe that you're unimportant?"

The fact that he didn't respond at all worried her.

"I bet you're important to more people than you think, Becker."

"And so are you," He pointed out.

She raised her eyebrows for him to elaborate.

He reluctantly did so, rolling his eyes and adopting a mock-impatient tone to try and divert her attention from the _feelings_ in his next sentence. "I'd miss you, Jessica."

Her eyes lit up, unable to stop the smile from her lips. "You… you would?"

He shuffled awkwardly on the sofa, avoiding her eyes, but unintentionally (or was it intentionally?) moving closer to her. "Of course."

"I'd miss you too," She smiled, hardly able to believe what was happening.

Becker was sharing _feelings_?

He rolled his eyes, and she looked up at him through her own eyelashes, suddenly realising how close they'd become: both leaning towards each other, hardly breathing.

As usual, Becker almost ruined it by speaking.

"Jess, I-" He breathed out, giving away his desires by glancing down to stare at her lips for a split second, then glancing back up to her eyes.

"Don't you dare back out of this, Becker," She breathed back, her arm already on the back of the sofa dropping and linking round the back of his neck with her other hand.

He pulled her closer, heart beating fast, and then he was kissing her.

And wondering why he hadn't done it before.

_What were you waiting for? Old age? A creature attack? A miracle?_

He smiled against her lips at the thought: Jess would call it a Christmas miracle; sweet, optimistic, adorable Jess.

He couldn't imagine possibly letting her go now that he'd kissed her.

She suddenly pulled away from him.

His heart plummeted.

_Unless she wanted him to let her go?  
><em>

_No, she wouldn't… right? Jess liked him just as much as he liked her, right? Right?_

She hadn't unravelled her hands from his hair, and he hadn't let go of her waist either, but nor was she looking at him.

As she stared towards the window to her right, Becker tried to speak, but couldn't until he'd cleared his throat a second time. Soldier he may be, but in relationships he was just as insecure as the next guy.

"J…Jess? Is something wrong?"

She turned to face him, and immediately caught on to his mood. A huge grin spread across her face. "Definitely not. No… definitely not. Unless you get scared and run away, like I can see in your eyes."

"I'm not scared," He shot back on reflex. The familiarity of the banter caused them both to grin. "What were you looking at outside?"

Her eyes were positively electric when she answered, in a tone matching her grin. "It's snowing!"

"Of course it is," Becker shook his head and rolled his eyes, barely containing a laugh.

"What?" Jess pouted, which just made him want to kiss her more.

Then he realised he _could_.

So he did.

She seemed surprised at the affectionate gesture, but retuned the kiss immediately.

"So it's snowing?" Becker asked as the movie credits began to roll, the film now long forgotten.

"Yep," Jess smiled. "It's a Christmas miracle!"

Becker rolled his eyes again. _Oh, how well he knew her._ "Of course it is…"

She slapped the back of his head playfully with the hands that were still wrapped around him. "Scrooge."

"You'll have to get used to it, Jess - I'll still be the same in ten years," He teased back, before he could stop the words from coming out of his mouth.

Her expression went blank for a moment, and he thought he might have finally done something to ruin the moment - after all, Jess's feelings for him had always been obvious to anyone and everyone, but Becker had kept his under a more careful mask. This morning she probably doubted he even had any feelings for her that weren't platonic.

And, Jess being Jess, had. In her mind, how could mature, suave Becker like silly, bubbly her?

But he did. He loved her, in fact.

Suddenly, she grinned teasingly. "I'll change that. Just you wait - in two years time you'll love Christmas."

"I'll hold you to that," He grinned.

She kissed him again, and when they pulled away, just for the fun of it, she whispered to him, "Merry Christmas, _Hilary."_

"Bah Humbug," He smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>Please leave a review? I'm <em>desperate<em> for reviews on this!**

**Also, if you're a Memily shipper (I've totally jumped on that bandwagon now! They're _so_ cute!), check out SabreDae's 'Emily's Firsts'. They're one-shots about the first time she does different things that we deem ordinary in modern society but which she isn't used to from growing up in the Victorian Era, like playing video games, using the internet, etc...**

**Thank you!  
><strong>


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